The Tooth Pixies
by Youwillneverseeme
Summary: After Cubby loses his first tooth, he is told the story of magical pixies who take lost teeth and replace them with gold doubloons. The pirate kids realise that the mythical tale is more real than they first thought, and the Tooth Pixies will soon need their help against a certain sneaky snook. Join Jake and his crew in just another day in the life of a Neverland pirate.
1. Bright Smiles

**The Tooth Pixies**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Bright Smiles**

Clear skies, warm suns, soft grass, calm waters, and gentle breezes; that is what Jake and the Neverland Pirates liked. The four young pirates rested their heads in the plush meadows of Butterfly Bluff, with a soft blanket against their backs and a basket with only a few morsels of tasty treats left.

They had been lying there for what seemed like hours, watching and waiting as the world turned slowly. The bright sun, made bearable through the lenses of their sunglasses, was beginning its long descent toward the horizon. Every once in a while, one of those brightly coloured, humongous butterflies would flutter past. For creatures so large, they flew with such a gentle and silent grace.

This was the life. As Jake and his crew loved their adventures, they also loved the quiet days – the smell of fresh flowers and warm grass. No danger. No quarrelling. No sneaky snook. Just a day to themselves.

The stillness was broken by Cubby. As quietly as possible, he reached his hand into the basket and pulled out the last coconut chip cookie they had left. Cubby pulled up his shades to inspect the biscuit in its original colour. The cookie, packed with oats and generous chips of white coconut, shone golden like a doubloon in the sunlight, having been baked for the perfect amount of time. Every bite could be heard from miles around and be easily mistaken for the sound of cannon fire. Cubby licked his dry lips. He was going to enjoy this.

A snort from Skully drew the mini matey toward his other mateys. Jake, Izzy, and Skully slept peacefully. Their breathing calm and measured. Cubby turned back to his cookie. It would be such a shame to wake them now, but those coconut shavings looked so good.

"Aw, coconuts…" Cubby whispered under his breath.

Temptation got the better of the little buccaneer. Cubby stuck his tongue out and dabbed it twice against the crunchy outer shell. The taste of delicious oats mingled for a second before fizzling out.

Cubby glanced at his friends again. They had not moved an inch. "Maybe I can be really, really quiet…?"

Cautiously, Cubby brought the cookie between his teeth, fearing that the slightest scrape would awaken the others. He clamped down and applied slow pressure, but found the cookie to be tougher than he had hoped. He applied more pressure, and when that did not work, he applied some more. Finally, his stomach could stand it no longer, he bit down with everything he had.

 _Crunch!_

Something had broken the silence, but it was not the coconut chip cookie. Cubby sat there, the cookie still intact between his choppers. He turned to his mateys and found each of them holding a bitten apple. Their eyes were shut, but their jaws chewed. Cubby gazed at them silently, unsure as to what to say or do. Then, from behind the tinted lens, he spotted Jake peeking at him; a mischievous smile started to grow on the leader's lips.

Jake swallowed the chunk of apple, then looked at Cubby who looked confused. "What?" Jake asked. His grin showed no signs of stopping. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did we wake you?"

Cubby's lips fell into a frown as he saw the smiles on their faces. He had been had. "You guys are the worst," he spoke while the cookie was in his teeth, causing his words to come out muffled.

Jake, Izzy, and Skully burst out laughing. Little did Cubby know, they were not laughing at him, but instead, with him.

"Cheer up, Cubby," Skully said. "We didn't mean it in a bad way."

Izzy tipped up her sunglasses, revealing her brown eyes. "Yeah. We saw you itching to take that last cookie. You were eyeing it for the last hour," she said, pointing a playful finger at Cubby. "We knew you couldn't keep away from it forever."

Slowly, Cubby's frown began to turn upside-down as he saw the funny side to it. "Well, you know what, Iz? You're absolutely right!" And he bit into the cookie with a loud crunch, sending out a ripple that could be heard far and wide. His face lit up with delight as he munched away happily. "Totally worth it."

They all laughed. They laughed themselves back down onto the blanket, where it died down naturally.

"Ain't it just beautiful?" Izzy asked as she looked up at the spotless blue.

"Yeah," Jake answered. "I haven't felt this relaxed since… ever."

Cubby took another hearty bite from the cookie. "You can say that again," he said with his mouth full.

"What did he just say?" Skully asked.

* * *

It was late afternoon. Time to go home. Izzy had wrapped up the blanket and secured it inside the mostly empty basket. Jake stretched his legs, which were stiff from immobility. They had no other plans other than traversing their way back to Bucky and sailing back to their hideout on Pirate Island. There, they would most likely spend the remaining hours lying on the beach, and waiting for the sun to set and the stars to come out and play.

Izzy shouldered the basket onto one shoulder. "Okay, team, which way back to Bucky?"

Cubby retrieved his map of Neverland and gazed at its surface. "We could just retrace our steps back to Shipwreck Beach, or…" he paused as he examined the map. "We could take the scenic route if you're feeling adventurous."

"The scenic route?" Skully asked.

"Yep," Cubby clarified as he pointed at his map. "According to my map, there's another route that can get us back to Bucky just as fast." He looked up at his mateys. "Do you remember the slide at the top of Spiky Pike Peak?"

Jake answered, "How could we forget?" as they recalled the fond memory of sliding down it, all the way from the mountain peak to ground level. That moment was the biggest for Cubby himself; the day he realised just how brave he actually was.

Cubby turned back to his map. "Well, here's another slide that sounds even more awesome. The Crazy Corkscrew. It's not far from here. It'll take us right back to Shipwreck Beach."

"Crazy Corkscrew?" Jake echoed. He folded his arms and stared at the ground, a frown appeared on his face. Something about that name just did not sit well with him. "That sounds a little extreme, don't you think, Cubby?"

Cubby smiled a hard smile that brimmed with determination. "Trust me, Jake. It'll be a blast!" He began to pace across the bluff. "This way, mateys."

The little map-reader led the way while the rest of the pirate crew followed. They navigated turns and dips and steps for five minutes before arriving at the lip of a precarious cliff. The air had a peculiar stillness to it, almost as if nobody had been through in a long, long time. There, right in front of them, was the mouth of the half-pipe.

"Here we are," Cubby announced as he reached the lip and looked down at what awaited them. "Crazy… Corkscrew…"

The four pirates felt a mixture of varied feelings as they overlooked as much of the slide as they could see. Out of all the feelings, excitement and dread were perhaps the most prominent of them all. Jake was right: the name did sound extreme, and for good reason. The Crazy Corkscrew was the wildest, twistiest, and – for want of a better term – craziest slide they had ever seen in their lives. It put Spiky Pike Peak to shame. They could make out three loop-de-loops, five steep drops, a figure eight, many twists, and even a few corkscrews as if they were purely constructed to make the name relevant. There were manoeuvres present that nobody would think were even possible on a slide, such as butterfly inversions, dive loops, double dips, and hammerhead turns – and they all weaved together like the threads in a sheet. Worse, the slide trailed off into the thick jungles beyond. Who knew how long it went on for, or what further mysteries awaited them? It sounded to insane to conceive, but there it was, Crazy Corkscrew, waiting for some poor chump to take the plunge and hope that they came out intact on the other side.

Cubby continued, now with a lump in his throat. "I'm sure it's perfectly safe… but I didn't think it would look that…" He stopped to swallow it down. "Dangerous…"

Skully hovered overhead. His birdy peepers struggled to comprehend the intensity of Crazy Corkscrew. "Crackers," he said, "its times like these that I'm glad I'm not human. You guys have my sympathies."

"So, uh," Cubby said in a shaky voice. "Who wants to go first?" He eyed the pirate lass. "Izzy?"

Izzy shot a wide-eyed look at Cubby. "Yay hey, no way," she cried.

Cubby felt a bead of sweat on his forehead and his heart beat with increasing tempo as he turned to the other. "Jake?" _Don't say no. Don't say no._

"Look, Cubby," Jake began, "I know you're trying to put on a brave face for us, but you've got nothing to prove. We already know how brave you really are." From out the corner of his eye, he could make out Izzy and Skully nodding profusely. "We won't think any less of you if you don't want to do this."

Cubby, clearly outnumbered in this situation, looked back to the slide, and it only got longer the more he stared. The truth was, Cubby did not want to slide down the Crazy Corkscrew, but something urged him forward. He thought back to the previous slides and remembered the apprehension he felt at the time, which was nowhere near the dread he experienced right there and then. He recalled the day he had to get the Emerald Coconut back from Captain Hook; the day he aided the crabs against the same villainous pirate. He never went into these situations without fear, but he always came out on top at the end.

The little, quivering pirate asked himself why he was doing this, and the answer presented itself like a bolt of lightning. He was not doing this for them, he was doing it for himself.

He started small. "N-n-n-no…" Suddenly, Cubby shot upright, pulling his shoulders back, his chest out, and his head high. "No! I'm gonna do it! I wanna do it!" He marched to the lip of the slide. "Just watch me."

Never before had Jake ever wanted to reach out so bad. Usually, he would be encouraging his map-reading matey from a mountaintop, but this time, he had to fight every mode of sense in his body to not grab Cubby by the shoulders and pry him away from the crazy concoction. He had a bad feeling about this, but being a worrywart was supposed to be Cubby's job, not his.

Jake brought his hand up to his red bandanna and briefly adjusted it. Now he was starting to sweat. _I never thought I'd ever say this,_ Jake thought, _but bring the old, nervous Cubby back, please._

Cubby grabbed the slide by the corners. His heart sank as he gazed down the drop that awaited him. The opening plunge was practically vertical and seemed to go on forever. In order to clear most of the elements, the unlucky missile would need to be travelling at breakneck speeds.

Cubby gripped the corners tighter. His legs shook uncontrollably. "O-o-okay… I'm sure it's safe… nothing bad is gonna happen to me…" he murmured, more to himself than to his friends. "On three." He gently rocked his body back and forth in rhythm with the numbers. "One. Two. Thre—" He stuck his right foot out, only to retract it at the last moment. "Whoa! Maybe not!"

Izzy rushed beside her matey. Her hand delicately went to his shoulder. "Nobody's forcing you to do this, Cubby," she explained. "Let's just go the other way back to Shipwreck Beach."

"No, no, I got this," Cubby reassured her. "Let me try again." He composed himself, taking deep breaths. "One. Two." He closed his eyes and leaned forward. "THREE!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, while remaining rooted to the spot. A flock of birds from beyond the trees took to the sky, startled by his voice. "I didn't jump, did I," he said.

Skully rolled his eyes and sighed. "Nope, you didn't. Are you done yet?"

Without taking his hands off the slide, Cubby turned his head to meet the others. They could tell by the look in his blue eyes that he was afraid. Cubby gulped down another lump, then asked, "Can you push me?"

Jake almost choked. "Wha—? Push you? We're not doing that!"

"Please. I think that's the only way I'm going down this slide."

Jake looked at Izzy. Izzy looked back at Jake. Jake looked up at Skully. Skully looked at Izzy. Izzy looked back at Skully. Skully turned back to Jake. Izzy turned back at Jake. Jake kept his gaze on Skully. Izzy turned back to Skully.

"Best do as he says." Skully broke the silence. "None of us are leaving here until we do."

Izzy and Jake dropped their heads and sighed in unison.

"Okay, Cubby," Jake said, "We'll give you a hand…"

While they positioned themselves behind the pint-sized matey, Izzy handed the basket over to Skully. It was light enough for their faithful lookout to handle with ease. Jake stood to Cubby's right while Izzy to the left, and they both placed a motivating palm on the back of his vest.

"Ready?" Izzy asked. Cubby nodded. "On three." She spoke slowly and calmly, pausing before each word. "…One…" Then Cubby jumped.


	2. Jaw Dropping

**Chapter 2**

 **Jaw Dropping**

The mere split-second Cubby decided to jump was also the moment he regretted it. As he hovered motionless in the air, weightless without the aid of pixie dust, it struck him as most surreal.

Then gravity kicked in. Cubby dropped like a rock.

Jake and Izzy tipped forward as their sense of balance was knocked off-guard. They grabbed onto the corners of the slide before they could topple over the edge, and watched as Cubby slid down the never-ending drop slide, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Cubby!" Jake, Izzy, and Skully shouted at the same time.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU PUSH ME?" Cubby screamed in between screams.

Jake yelled back, "But we were gonna push you on three!"

Cubby was still in free-fall – because the drop was that long – when he managed to respond, "I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PUSH ON—" Finally, he hit the gradual curve and rocketed toward the first of the many corkscrews. "OOOOONE!"

Skully dared to pull his eyes away. "Izzy! We've got a major emergency on our hands here!" He paused. "Not to mention wings."

"I couldn't agree more," Izzy said, then reached for the pouch of pixie dust that hung from around her neck. "Pixie dust…" She felt the tickling sensation on her fingertips, but another of Cubby's screams averted her attention.

Silently, they watched Cubby as he zoomed through the twists and turns, finding themselves mesmerized by the spectacle, unable to move or think. Cubby twirled through the corkscrew turn, then flew straight up, over, and down a loop-de-loop. He moved as a blur, they could see streaks of blue and red behind him. It looked so fast and so insane, and yet so…

"Wow…" Skully murmured, spellbound. "Look at him go."

"Yeah," Izzy said. Her fingers still dipped in the pouch. The desire to throw it got smaller and smaller with every element Cubby cleared. "That actually looks…"

Jake smiled. "Pretty fun?"

Izzy nodded then smiled back. "Yeah! It doesn't look that bad now that I think about it." She retightened the string around the lip of the pouch. "You know what? Why let Cubby have all the fun? I wanna go!"

"Me too!" Jake took a step back and bowed courteously. "Ladies first."

All fear and doubt was swept aside as Izzy, without so much as a second thought, eagerly jumped onto the slide and down the drop. "YAY HEEEEEEY!"

Jake and Skully struggled to keep track of both Cubby and Izzy as the former slipped down a butterfly inversion. He waited until Izzy, the pink blur, had cleared the first loop-de-loop. The anticipation made those seconds feel longer.

"Have fun," Skully said to Jake. A dash of jealousy laced his voice. "I'll meet up with you on the other side."

"Sure thing, Skully." Finally, it was Jake's turn. "Yo ho," he started as he jumped, "LET'S GOOOOOO!"

Skully fluttered up high to get a bird's eye view. Even from his elevated height, he could hear Cubby's shrieks of horror and Izzy's hollers of joy and Jake's laughter of excitement. Skully should not be too jealous; he was a bird after all. He could fly and perform loops and twists whenever he wanted. In fact, he realised that he did that on a regular basis so much that he had taken it for granted.

He floated there, over the theme park attraction, and saw Cubby disappear into a tube that covered a loop drop. His squeal was abruptly cut off. Two seconds later, Cubby shot out the other end, along with his constant cries for help. Izzy cleared the second corkscrew around the same time Jake cleared the hammerhead turn. There were times where it looked like they could slip straight off the track, but the route seemed to keep them on course somehow. It was as if it was designed that way.

The green parrot turned to the jungle threshold where the slide snaked into. He guessed with Cubby nearing the unknown, it would be good of him to be at the drop-off early, ready to console the map reader when he came to a stop. Skully stopped flapping, allowed himself to drop, and then propelled himself downward.

Skully guided himself fluently through the inner workings of the slide. He threaded a loop-de-loop and followed the gap around a corkscrew. He passed Jake along the way – his voice hitting a crescendo at the nearest point of contact. Skully followed the rest of the slide down, deep into the unknown. The murky shadows of the jungle allowed him to see only twenty meters ahead. He flew for tens of seconds, yet it continued in the same steepness. There were no turns, no changes in the curve, no crazy elements – it just went on and on, it was like the Crazy Corkscrew simply would not end. It went so long that Skully started to wonder if he was still aboveground, or even above sea level for that matter.

Finally, Skully reached what he had been waiting for: the point where the Crazy Corkscrew ended.

"Crashing crackers," Skully said to himself. "They're in deep trouble."

* * *

The adrenaline rushed through Jake's veins with the same speed he and his mateys were travelling right there and then. The slide was surprisingly smooth and seamless on his back, like sliding on ice that had been polished a million times. Everything in Jake's body was not in the right place as the slide threw him in every direction. His brain span in circles in his head. His heart throbbed in his oesophagus. The contents in his stomach – the light bites back at Butterfly Bluff – stayed inside somehow.

Jake could not think straight. He, along with his friends – his family – were lost in the ecstasy, the rush, the thrill. Well, two of them at least.

Cubby reached the apex of another loop-de-loop. His momentum halted for a brief moment. He dared to look down and reeled at the gaping distance between himself and solid earth. "COCONUTS!" he shrieked as he completed the loop. "WHY DID I SUGGEST THIS?"

Cubby disappeared down the summit, out of view. Izzy followed shortly behind. Next came Jake, last but not least. The mid-afternoon sun became lost behind several layers of thick canopy. Jake reckoned that this would be where the journey would end; the slide would reach its end and he would meet up with the others.

However, it did not. It kept going, and going, and going.

Up ahead, Jake spotted a hovering green dot. It first appeared as a falling leaf until he focused on it, whereupon it transformed into Skully. Their reunion was brief. Skully shouted something as the leader sped past. Jake did not catch all of what Skully had said, but it sounded like "—ide is ou—".

 _Ide is ou?_ Jake thought, confused. _What does that mean? The tide is ours? Wide is outside? The slide is…_

That's when Jake saw it: the end. The descent curved upward, where it stopped, incomplete. The abundance of mossy logs, rotten planks of wood, worn rope, and dusty tools in the vicinity suggested one thing, and that was that the Crazy Corkscrew was unfinished. You would have to be crazy to ride on it.

At the last moment, Jake understood what Skully meant. "THE SLIDE IS OUT!" he yelled. "YO HO—" With no way to stop himself, Jake slipped off the end and was sent hurdling through the air. "OH NOOOOO!"

Jake screamed as the trees passed him on his left and right. He whipped through thin branches, which snapped against his body. Up ahead, the hanging vines multiplied into the hundreds. This was Jake's one chance to stop himself from making a pirate-shaped crater in the ground. He reached out as the vines knocked and span him around. He managed to grab hold of one and held on tight. He swung up, through the canopy, and out above the treetops, making one final loop. For one second, the sky was the sea, and the sea was the sky. He crashed back down to the vines, where he finally came to a stop.

For minutes, Jake refused to budge on the vine. His heart was like a stampede against his ribcage. His breathing irregular, rapid, and shallow. The first realisation set in that he could not believe he had just survived that. The second realisation set in that there were two other people who had been on the slide before him. That one hit him hard with worry.

While looking forward, Jake called out, "Cubby? Izzy? Where are you?"

"Right here," Izzy said from nearby.

Jake turned his head to the right and spotted Izzy hanging from an adjacent vine.

"Izzy, you're okay! Where's Cubby?" Jake asked.

Izzy motioned with her head to Jake's opposite side. He turned and found Cubby wrapped tightly around another neighbouring vine. The little matey trembled uncontrollably.

"Is… is it… o-over?" Cubby asked with an equally as shaky voice.

Izzy wished she could pat him on the shoulder. Her words would have to do. "Yes. It's over. We survived."

Skully burst through the brush. "Mateys," he cried with relief. "Are you guys okay?"

Izzy raised her thumb. "We're shipshape, Skully," she said. Izzy did not sound convincing, however.

"I wouldn't say we're shipshape, but we're still in the land of the living," Jake added.

"That's good news," Skully said. "I wish I could've warned you earlier about the whole slide being unfinished thing."

"That'll be my fault, mateys," Cubby said after working up the courage to turn his head. His eyes gloomed with deep remorse. "I'm sorry. I had no idea that the Crazy Corkscrew wasn't complete. I could've gotten us all hurt… or worse."

"Don't beat yourself up, Cubby," Jake reassured. "You had no way of knowing that was going to happen."

Cubby sighed. "I know, but… I really, really wanted to try out that slide. Not to impress you guys, but to show myself that I was brave enough to take the plunge." He closed his eyes and recalled the events that happened mere minutes ago. "That slide just now. It was so fast and scary and dangerous. It was… It was…" Cubby's face scrunched up. "It was… AWESOME!" He beamed as he threw a fist into the air.

"Huh?" Jake, Izzy, and Skully said in bewilderment.

Cubby started to bounce on his vine. "Let's ride it again!"

"NO!" They immediately retorted in unison.

"Aww, but it was so cool!"

Suddenly, Cubby's vine snapped. He remained in place while the length above slackened, falling limp over his hands. Cubby's pupils narrowed into pinpoints.

"Uh oh," he muttered, then fell.

Once again, Cubby's friends could do nothing but look on as he fell for the second time that day. There was not enough time for Izzy to throw some emergency pixie dust his way. Thankfully, Cubby landed in a bush. It still resulted in a hard thud, but at least it was softer than dry earth. Jake and Izzy, as fast as they could, dropped down safely to the dirt ground.

"Cubby?" Jake spoke to the shrub that contained his matey. "Are you alright?"

The red berry bush began to rustle, accompanied by Cubby's pained voice. "I'm okay… the bush broke my fall. That's not so cool." At least he was alive; at least his sense of humour was alive. Further rustling and crunching indicated that the little pirate was rising to his feet. "Hey," Cubby unexpectedly said with surprise, "check it out."

Jake felt an eyebrow raise. He leaned over to get a better look, but could not make out anything besides leaves and berries. "Check what out, Cubby?" he asked.

Cubby emerged, covered in leaves – some jutted out from under his blue bandanna. Something was cupped in his hands. "Look what I found," he said as he opened his fingers.

The others edged in closer. At first, they did not see anything. On closer inspection, however, they saw it. A small, white stone – no bigger than the size of a pea – lay in the map maker's pale hands.

"A tooth?" asked Izzy. "Where did you find it?"

"In that bush back there," Cubby replied. His mateys eyes turned from the tooth to him. "It was just lying there." He glanced back down at the tiny incisor. "I wonder whose it is."

Cubby looked back up at his friends to find them strangely silent. Their mouths were open but no words came out. Cubby looked at their eyes and noticed that they were not making contact with his, nor were they looking at the tooth. They were looking at something in between.

"Um, Cubby…?" Skully murmured.

Cubby stared back, puzzled. "What?" he asked. "What is it?"

Jake waved his finger around Cubby's mouth. "Don't be alarmed, but, uh…" he began, but struggled to get the words out.

Izzy, who stood right next to Jake, opened her mouth and pointed at her teeth. Cubby did not understand what Izzy meant by this gesture. Was there something stuck in her teeth? He realised that she was not just pointing at her pearly whites, but at one specific tooth: the lower central incisor. Her fingernail tapped against the outside.

 _Wait,_ Cubby pondered. _Is she trying to say something about…?_ His left hand came up to his own mouth. _My teeth?_ He pressed his index finger against his choppers, in the area where Izzy was emphasising, and felt the gap.

"That's your tooth," Jake confessed.

Cubby's eyes went wide. His finger remained on the crevice in his choppers. "My-my t-tooth?" He shot a look back down to the tooth in his palm, and grasped that it was his. "My tooth! Oh no!" he cried. "My teeth are falling out! I don't wanna lose them!"

"Calm down, Cubby," Jake said. "Your teeth aren't falling out. You've just lost your first baby tooth, that's all."

"But I've never lost a tooth before. I don't know what to do." Cubby touched his remaining teeth, fearing that they would come loose at any second.

Izzy giggled. "You don't have to do anything. Eventually, another tooth will replace the one you lost. It happens to everyone." She pointed at her teeth again. "I remember losing my first tooth. Jake has lost some of his baby teeth. Everyone in Neverland will've lost all their first sets of teeth, so don't worry about a thing. It's a part of growing up."

"Really?" Cubby wiped his brow with the back of his hand. "That's a relief," he said before he brought his lost tooth up. The same thing that aided in the chewing of many fruits, treats, and coconuts was now gone, detached from himself in an instant. "But I took care of my teeth so well. I brushed them and everything, and now..."

Izzy smiled warmly. "And now somebody's going to get a visit from the Tooth Pixies."

"The Tooth Pixies?" Cubby asked. "What's a tooth pixie?"

Jake took a step back. "Shiver me timbers. You've never heard of the Tooth Pixies?"

"No, I've never heard of them in my life. Who are they?"

"Only the brightest and whitest fairies in the entire world." Izzy motioned them towards two downed tree trunks and a rock. "Take a seat and I'll tell you the story."

Jake and the Neverland Pirates walked over and planted themselves down. Jake leaned against the lone rock; Izzy sat alone on one log while Cubby and Skully shared the other.

"Now, where to begin…" Izzy tapped her cheek in thought. "We're friends with the pixies, but did you believe that only one type of fairy existed?" She held her hands out in front of her, picturing the scene. "The Tooth Pixies live in a magical kingdom, hidden high up in the clouds. They are as white as the teeth they worship, with hair like snow, and skin as pure as ivory. They live in little white homes, and play in their lush, pearl fields, and everything is overlooked by the tooth castle."

Izzy paused to get a look at the little pirate's expression. Cubby – with a huge grin on his face, the gap prominent – was hanging on to every word.

She resumed, "It is believed that they have a strong connection to all the teeth in the world, and when somebody loses a tooth, they feel in. Teeth are the life blood of these pixies, for it is the source of their power, which is why they collect them. The legend goes that if you place your tooth under your pillow at night, the Tooth Pixies visit you while you sleep, take your tooth, and replace it with a gold doubloon."

"A gold doubloon?" Cubby asked. He rolled his tooth between his thumb and forefinger, inspecting it the same way one would inspect a diamond. "So, if I place this little baby under my pillow tonight, do you think they'll come?"

"They might do, Cubby. Why don't you do that tonight and see if it's still there in the morning."

Cubby slips the tooth into his pocket. "I think I'll just do that." He turned upwards to the canopy and made out the rays of sun through the green leaves. "Look at the time, mateys. We should be getting back to Shipwreck Beach right away. Bucky will be wondering where we are." He jumped off the log, retrieved his map and eagerly scrolled it open. "Thankfully, the beach isn't too far from here. Follow me."

As Cubby took the lead, the rest took their sweet time to stand up and follow his lead, allowing a wide breadth to grow between them and him.

Skully flew in close and whispered, "Great job with that story, Izzy. He'll sleep like a baby tonight."

"Thanks, Skully," Izzy whispered back. She looked at Jake. "And thank you for backing me up. Did I sound convincing enough?"

"For a moment," Jake said, "you almost convinced me that the Tooth Pixies were real." They shared a quiet giggle before the boy continued. "I'll sneak a gold doubloon out of the team treasure chest later today. He'll be none the wiser."

"Don't forget his bed is on the top bunk," Skully informed. "I can switch the tooth for the doubloon if you want."

"That's okay, Skully," said Izzy. "We know you like to get your beauty sleep. Leave it to Jake and me. A pinch of pixie dust should do the trick."

Cubby impatiently called out from far away, "Hey, guys, are you coming or what?"

Jake broke away and responded, "Coming! Let's go, crew."

They dashed beside their delegated map-reader, and together, all four of them proceeded down the worn path back to Shipwreck Beach.

The jungle became quiet, void of life. However, that was not true. From high up in the vines, hidden from plain sight, something stirred. A crimson-suited figure slowly descended from up high, like a spider coming down on its prey. He gazed with dark, beady eyes as the pesky popinjays made their exit. His right hand gripped the rope while his artificial left twirled his thin moustache.

"Did you hear that, Mr. Smee?" Captain Hook spoke in a hushed voice.

Something grunted with discomfort from above, followed by a series of snapping sounds. Hook's first mate, Mr. Smee, dropped beside his captain, coiled head to toe in vines.

Mr Smee adjusted his spectacles, which were lopsided upon his nose. "Aye aye, Cap'n," he responded. "Ah, to lose your first baby tooth. It feels like a lifetime ago." He clasped his hands in thought, recalling his days as a young lad. "I remember so fondly placing those teeth under my pillow and—"

Captain Hook reached over and nicked a single vine with his hook. As that vine snapped, so did all the others – cutting off both Smee's reminiscing and his safeguard. The first mate tumbled a short way down to the clay ground below. He landed with a hard bang, billowing up a cloud of dust – no bush to ease the crash like with little Cubby.

"Yes, yes, heart-warming indeed," Captain Hook said dismissively. He landed beside Mr. Smee and snagged him by the shirt, pulling the portly first mate to his feet. "But let's not dilly-dally in your childhood tales, Smee. I'm more interested in these supposed 'Tooth Pixies' of theirs."

"The Tooth Pixies?" Smee stuttered for a moment, lost in confusion, then chuckled in his peppy manner. "Cap'n, don't be silly now. That be just a…" He stopped and giggled some more, tickled by what he was about to say. "Fairy tale."

Sharky and Bones appeared from the foliage, holding a bongo and cymbals respectively. Sharky went _ba dum,_ followed by Bones who went _tish!_ Then they disappeared as quickly as they came.

Mr. Smee found his footing before he continued. "Why, it's all made up, of course. A story to tell young sea pups, nothing more."

"Preposterous," Hook barked back. "Those pintsized pests would never lie about anything regarding fairies. Need I remind you who that irksome Izzy gets her pixie dust from? Or that they're friends with that loathsome Tinkerbell?" He paced down the path while he scratched his chin, both in thought and in frustration. When he thought of Tinkerbell, he thought of Peter Pan – a name that made his stomach burn with disgust. "Methinks there's some truth to their words."

Mr. Smee placed a palm on his forehead and shook his head in a discreet manner. If his captain was not underestimating Jake and his crew, he was overestimating them instead. "Aye, Sir. What you got planning in that noggin of yours?"

Captain Hook span back around. Mr. Smee dropped his hand to his side and smiled in the nick of time, not wanting to provoke his already cranky captain.

"These pixies replace all lost teeth with doubloons, yes? This means that they must have some way of supplying doubloons to all the people in the world." His greedy brain wandered, filled with visions of shiny metal in the bucket loads. "Do you know how many doubloons they'd need to fulfil such a task? They'd need to have millions; billions; trillions of them. Meaning they have either a humongous supply of gold, or a never-ending source of doubloons."

Smee said, "Well, the next time you lose a tooth," _and judging by your attitude, I'm surprised you aren't wearing dentures already,_ "I'll remind you to place it under your pillow."

"You misunderstand your captain," Hook retorted. "I don't want just one measly doubloon." He wagged his finger. "No, no, no, Mr. Smee. I want all of them!"

"Then how do you intend to find where they live?" Mr. Smee asked. "You heard Izzy, their home be hidden from all non-tooth pixies."

"Which is exactly why I won't go looking for them. They will come looking for me. If I can get me hands on one of those pixies, I can convince it to take me to its home." He chuckled darkly. "Then I will find the source of their doubloons, and swipe it all to meself." He caressed his steel hook. "Ah, such ingenious. What else can you expect from the great and glorious Captain Hook?"

"First you be needing a tooth, Cap'n," the first mate reminded, rolling his eyes. "But methinks nobody on the Jolly Roger is willing to give any of theirs, not to mention Bones."

"Oh, Smee, I wouldn't ask any of you to sacrifice a tooth for my sake." Hook wrapped his arm around Smee's shoulders. "Even though I could, and if you didn't I'd make you walk the plank, but I digress. I know someone who'll gladly give us a spare."


	3. Toothache

**Chapter 3**

 **Toothache**

Captain Hook took the lead, shifting through the foliage, pushing it aside. His heart beat against his chest with increased tempo, partly due to anticipation and partly out of anxiety. He listened closely, and could not make out the footsteps of his crew. Lacking behind as always. What was a villainous captain supposed to do with such incompetent men at his disposal?

Hook span around. "Step lively, you swabs. I'd like to get there sometime today, if necessary," he said in a tone that was both boisterous but hushed.

The cranky captain waited. It took a minute for his crew to catch up. The hefty cannonballs clutched in their hands was the main reason for their delay. Sharky huffed and Bones wheezed and Smee panted.

"We're stepping as lively as we can, Cap'n," Bones moaned between gasps for breath. His bony arms quivered like twigs ready to snap.

"Lugging these here cannonballs be no easy job, sir," Sharky said as the sweat trickled from under his hat.

Hook retorted, "Well, your jobs are going to get a lot harder if you don't pick up the pace. Now, onwards. We're almost there."

"Begging your pardon, Cap'n, but could ye at least tell us where we be going?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

Captain Hook pressed on. His crew followed, not wanting to squeeze anymore ire from this stone. They cut through the Neverland jungle. It buzzed all around with the sound of life – the chirping of birds up high and the clicking of bugs down below.

Hook pushed aside the twentieth leaf bush and stopped. "This is the place, men," he whispered.

Mr. Smee heaved beside his superior and looked out at the view. He did not know whether his captain had made a mistake or not, but if his vision had not failed him, he could swear he was staring at the Tick Tock Croc's lagoon. A pond of water, surrounded by golden sand and lush palm trees. There, in the small central island, lay the infamous crocodile in the flesh – or scales in this case. Tick Tock snored in his sleep. His snout wobbled with every snort. Even with his eyes closed, they still bounced every second.

"Did we take a wrong turn somewhere?" Smee asked, feeling a sense of dread beginning to build.

"No, Smee," Hook replied. His dark eyes were firmly locked on the crocodile. "I told you I knew a certain scallywag who'd be so kind as to spare a tooth, and there he is."

"But all I see is ol' Tick Tock. Where do we…?" The realisation struck Smee like a lightning bolt. "Oh, Cap'n, I certainly hope you're not thinking what methinks you're thinking."

"What's there to think about?" Hook gestured with his hook toward the crocodile's snout. "Look at those teeth."

Right on cue, Tick Tock Croc yawned. His gaping maw opened. Their fears only increased as they tallied up the number of teeth on both rows, and counted around sixty. All of them looked razor sharp. The ticking of the clock in his belly accentuated for as long as his mouth remained open. Hook pondered whether what little remained of his left hand could still be found within.

"All I need is one, any will do, and the rest shall play out in my favour," Hook explained. "You may put those cannonballs down—"

Without warning, Bones let the ball of iron slip. It landed with a ground-shattering rumble right on his foot. Bones snapped up straight and solid like a statue as agonising pain shot up his leg. As his eyes began to swell, the inevitable yelp began to build in his throat. Captain Hook smacked his hand over Bones' lips a microsecond after it came out.

All breaths were held as the ferocious crocodile rose his head. His eyelids opened a smidgen, showing his yellow eyes. Tick Tock, who was still drowsy, looked around with half-open eyes. When he failed to see anything, he lowered his head back down and let his eyes shut, returning to his dreams.

Hook turned back to Bones. "Gently…" He pulled himself away.

As quietly as possible, Bones pushed the cannonball of his foot. His toes were as flat as pancakes. He limped over to a rock, sat himself down, and nursed his tootsies back into their original shape. Mr. Smee and Sharky set their dead weights on the ground, taking extra care not to make the same mistake Bones just made.

Captain Hook knelt down by the trio of cannonballs. "This won't take long." He reached behind his back and pulled out a palette and paintbrush. The palette was loaded with dollops of paint. "I knew that one day my natural painting prowess would come in handy. Thank you, Mummy."

Hook began work on the ammunition. He started slow and controlled, but quickly lost his patience and resorted to slathering them in a tidal wave instead. Flecks of brown paint flew everywhere, striking his men and smearing on his red coat. When he was done smothering them, he dabbed the ruined brush into the black splodge on his palette and dotted three spots onto each one.

Hook stood back, admiring his handiwork. "Magnificent, is I do say so meself."

The rest of the Jolly Roger crew looked down and could not help but raise an eyebrow. Where their captain saw three perfect coconuts, they saw three cannonballs poorly attempting to pass themselves off as coconuts. The shade of brown was two shades too light. The black spots were running. There were gaps where Hook had missed.

"Quickly, lads," Captain Hook ordered, "toss one of them out. It's time to feed the beast."

Reluctantly, Smee and Sharky saluted, said "aye, aye, sir", and then picked up one cannonball. The wet paint ran onto their hands.

"Shouldn't we at least wait for the paint to dry first?" Smee asked.

"Quit your complaining and just throw it out there," Hook retorted.

Mr. Smee sighed, then he and Sharky tossed it out. For a heavy ball, they managed to throw it quite a long distance. It landed on the sand. The resounding crash snapped Tick Tock Croc awake. Half asleep, the crocodile looked across the pool of water and made out the biggest coconut he had ever seen. Just the sight of it made his belly grumble.

Hook watched as the overgrown lizard eased into the water and drifted toward the 'coconut'. He turned away and smiled. "It's working, lads. That tooth is as good as mine."

Tick Tock Croc crawled out onto the sand. He pressed his snout against the skin and sniffed. What he sensed snapped him fully awake. This was unlike any coconut he had ever smelled, plus, the tip of his nose had become moist all of a sudden. The crocodile shot upright and brought his claw to his nose, scraping off an oily substance onto his scaly palm. He stared down at the coconut, then swung his tail around and knocked it into the lagoon. Had it been a real coconut, it would not have sank straight to the bottom like an anchor. The stuff washed away, revealing the grey underneath. Now Tick Tock knew what it was, and he had a firm idea as to who it belonged to. It did not take a mastermind to figure it out. Around here, cannonballs were only used by pirates. And out of all the pirate crews and captains in Neverland, only one would devise a trick such as this.

Captain Hook pointed to another of the cannonballs masquerading as coconuts. "Pick up another one. We'll give him a feast to remember," he said.

Smee and Sharky, following their captain's instructions, heaved the second ball off the ground. They were about to take it to the jungle threshold when they stopped and stared up at something behind Hook.

"What are you all staring at?" Hook asked. He turned around and brushed the tip of his large nose against a pale underbelly. He begrudgingly followed it up until he met a pair of great, big crocodile teeth, gnashing away.

The Tick Tock Croc's ten foot tall frame of scale and muscle towered over the lanky, cranky captain. Beating, yellow eyes glared down at him. The teeth parted. The ticking that resonated from his gullet counted down the number of seconds Captain Hook had to live.

"On second thought," Hook said, his voice small, "perhaps I didn't think this through after all…" Tick Tock snarled, then snapped down with his jaw. James Hook ducked just in time to stop himself from becoming lunch. He span around and ran past his crew. "Make haste," he cried as his thin legs carried him faster than possible. "Run for your lives!"

The crocodile charged on all fours. Bones, Sharky, and Mr. Smee dashed after their captain – the latter two still carried the cannonball. The thought of abandoning it never crossed their mind.

Captain Hook sprinted through the jungle. He leapt fallen logs, ducked branches, avoided running face first into trees. As he passed a deep-rooted tree, he tripped on a protruding root and crashed to the dry ground. He raised his head only for someone to stamp it back into the clay.

"Sorry, Cap'n," Bones said. He did not stop running.

Hook raised his head again. His face was caked with dust. This time, two pairs of feet stomped him back down.

"'Scuse me, sir," Smee and Sharky apologised. They did not stop running either.

Captain Hook pushed himself up. Now there was an engraving of his face in the solid earth, enough to mould a perfect James Hook mask. The thunder of approaching crocodile footsteps jolted him up and onward.

Bones found it first: a sturdy palm tree that was taller than the others he had passed. Without a second thought, he wrapped himself around the trunk and shimmied himself up to the top. On the leafy peak, he looked down and spotted his musical partner and the first mate charging toward the base of the same tree. They still lugged the hefty, paint-soaked cannonball. They did not stop to climb up the tree, but rather, they ran up it in true cartoon fashion and came to a halt beside Bones.

"Wow," said Bones, smiling. "Mighty impressive, that be."

Captain Hook's cries echoed from the brush. "Smee, save me!" He burst through the foliage. Tick Tock was hot on his heels, no more than a couple of seconds behind.

Smee glanced down at the drop and back to his superior. "He's not going to make it!"

Captain Hook started to climb the tree trunk, but the hungry croc was mere meters away and gaining fast. There was no way Hook would be able to climb out of Tick Tock's reach. If something was not done, the meal that began so long ago will finally be finished.

"What can we do?" Sharky asked, looking at Smee.

Smee glanced down at the excuse of a coconut in their hands. "The same thing the cap'n ordered us to do," he responded. "Throw it! Now!"

Both he and Sharky tossed the cannonball down. At that moment, Tick Tock lunged at Captain Hook. His jaw was wide and salivating; he was going to enjoy this. His teeth chomped down and crunched against the hardest thing he had ever bitten into – sure, Hook might have been skin and bones, but even he should not be that dense. Tick Tock's entire body vibrated from his jaw to his toes. His eyes opened and saw the cannonball wedged in his mouth.

The cannonball dropped to the ground and then the crocodile began to shed crocodile tears. The Jolly Roger crew watched as the Tick Tick Croc clutched his jaw and wailed. He was hurt. Badly. He turned around and slinked away into the wilderness.

The pirate crew waited in case he decided to return, but he never did. Captain Hook, who was still halfway up the trunk, turned to his henchmen and said, "Methinks you've just earned yourselves a commendation."

"Oh, goody," Bones said joyously. "What do we get?"

Hook slid back down to ground level. "You got it when I said it five seconds ago," he said, sounding bitter. "Now, stop yapping and start searching."

They returned to the jungle floor and began to scan the surrounding area. There were plenty of white petals and flowers around that alluded them from what they were searching for.

All of a sudden, Captain Hook smiled and laughed. "Wonderful." He plucked something off the ground. "Feast your eyes on this, lads." He presented his finding: a fang from Tick Tock's mouth. "This is our ticket to Tooth Pixie-land! Endless gold doubloons, here I come!"


	4. Sweet Tooth

**Chapter 4**

 **Sweet Tooth**

Night had descended on Neverland. The stars were out to play and the full moon acted like a caring guardian. The island never slept, but that did not apply to those who inhabited it. Every individual, except for the nocturnal ones, were sound asleep. The crickets chirped and the owls hooted. In Crimson Castle, Red Jessica slumbered under her scarlet sheets, her kitten in a nearby cat bed. The Pirate Princess snuggled royally in Coral Castle. The trees of Tiki Forest awaited the rays of the sun. Captain Flynn and Camille rested their heads in the Pirate Pyramid. The birds of Skybird Island in their nests and the mermaids of Neptune City in their sea-beds.

Jake and his brave band of buccaneers were no exception. Even heroes need their beauty sleep. All the lights were off, and the four young pirates snoozed in their bunks. Bucky rocked to the gentle waves in his grotto. They dreamed of wonderful journeys in faraway lands, where the flowers were always blooming, where the grass was always green, where the tides were always calm, and where the adventures were always around every corner.

The clock, shaped like a tiny frigate, read two fifty-nine in the morning. The thin second hand ticked every second. It completed another full revolution, and the minute hand shot straight up.

Three o'clock. Right on the button. Jake and Izzy's eyes opened at the same time.

Izzy sat up in bed, fully awake. "You got the doubloon?" she whispered.

As Jake slid the red, sword-patterned cover off and eased himself out of bed, he reached under his pillow and found the warm tint of the gold doubloon. "Right here," he replied as he pulled it out.

The sheet in the bed above waved as Cubby rolled over from his right to his left. The two shot back down and lay perfectly still with baited breath as they waited for him to settle. Cubby crushed his eyelids tight and stopped breathing, as if a hitch had went off in his otherwise excellent dream. The next moment, he had relaxed and was snoring again.

Izzy reached over to her bedside table and grabbed her pouch of pixie dust. She nabbed a few specks between her thumb and forefinger. "Pixie dust away," she mouthed as she flicked the dust at Jake.

The tiny amount of sparkling dust landed on Jake's chest and took hold instantly. With that quantity, it would last no more than a minute – more than enough time for him to swap the tooth for the doubloon, slip back into bed, and pretend that nothing ever happened. Jake hovered up to Cubby's bedside. Cubby lay on his left, facing Jake. The leader was afraid that the map-reader would open his eyes at any moment and be bamboozled.

It was not a good position for Cubby to be lying. _This is gonna be tricky…_ Jake flew over Cubby, placing themselves a foot apart, and pulled up the opposite side of the pillow. He had almost reached the tooth when Cubby stirred again. Jake jerked back just in time as Cubby rolled back onto the right side.

 _You're not making this easy, Cubby_ , Jake thought as he slid his hand under the other side. He explored between the pillow's cushiness and the mattress's springiness and felt his fingers brush against the tiny tooth. He grabbed the tooth and extracted it, not bothering to look at it, even if it did look a little whiter than an average tooth.

As he went to slide the doubloon under, something talked. "Excuse me," a tiny voice said. Jake instinctively turned his head in its direction and found himself staring straight at a little person with wings. He dangled from Cubby's tooth with one hand while holding a gold doubloon with the other. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

Startled, Jake yelped, swinging his arms back. When he did though, the little figure was still clinging onto Cubby's tooth. As a result, he was catapulted across the room, into the far wall. He hit the grey stone hard, then dropped down behind a stack of barrels.

Cubby shot up in the commotion. "What?" he said in a groggy tone as he rubbed his eyes. "What's happening? Are we under attack?" He opened them up and was staggered to find Jake hovering directly over him. "Um, Jake? What're you doing?"

Jake could only remain where he was, floating in a dazzle of sparkling dust. "Um…" he murmured as his face turned red. "Nothing…"

Izzy jumped out of bed. "What was that?" She followed a trail of white sparkles that arched across the bedroom. "I saw something fly over just now."

Jake gazed at the barrels on the opposite end, where the thing may have landed. "I don't know what it was. It looked like a fairy."

Cubby looked down at Jake's hands. "What's that you've got there?" He homed in on the small disc of gold and a small, pearly stone. "Hey, is that my…?"

Jake quickly swung his hands behind his back. His face only got redder – so red, in fact, that it was now the same shade as his bandanna. "These? Oh, these are nothing," he said with a nervous giggle. The pixie dust wore off. Jake dropped onto Cubby's bed, having no choice but to bring his hands out to cushion his fall. He bounced before the mini matey, the possessions in his hands, the tooth and the doubloon, visible for Cubby to see.

Cubby's eyes widened. "My tooth! And a gold doubloon?" His hands went to his hips. "Jake, how could you?"

"No! No, no, no, no," Jake said desperately. The sweat trickled into his bandanna, soaking it. "You're just… err… having a dream. Yeah, this is all just a dream! You should go back to sleep and…" Before Jake could finish, Cubby reached over and began to play with his face. Cubby prodded Jake's cheek, pinched his nose, and yanked his ears, causing him to wince. "Hey! Quit it, Cubby," Jake protested.

"So this is a dream, huh?" Cubby pulled Jake's hair, causing more flinching. "You seem real enough to me," he confirmed.

Skully dragged himself out of his barrel bed. The bags under his eyes were large and blue, clashing against his green feathers. "Will you guys quiet down out there?" he asked, visibly annoyed. "I'm trying to…" He looked over at the human's beds and saw Jake lying in the same one as Cubby. A sly smile formed on his beak. "Oh, Jake, don't tell me you had a bad dream…"

"Jake didn't have a bad dream, Skully," Cubby explained. He folded his arms. "He just doesn't believe that the tooth pixies are real, that's all."

"What?" Jake blurted. "I…"

Izzy popped her head up from over the ladder. "Uh, mateys," Izzy said to Jake and Cubby, breaking up the dispute, "can we drop the anchor on this for one minute, please?"

The tiny glow behind the barrels groaned in pain. "Ouch, that's smarts…"

Skully turned toward the voice. "Hey, who's that?"

Carefully, Izzy climbed down and approached the barrels, taking cautious steps in her fluffy slippers. Jake and Cubby descended down the ladder and joined her. The pirate crew, dressed in their nightwear, neared the bundle. From a tiny crevice, they made out the white aura – the same one that darted across the room earlier. Skully landed on the left barrel while Jake grabbed the middle-most one, which was empty and light, and lifted it aside.

They gasped. Lying there, in a pile of dust brushed aside from a lazy sweeping job, was a pixie. A male one. He had pale skin, as white as snow, and a head of slick hair the same colour. His cotton tunic and trousers were white. His wings were white. The aura that surrounded him was white, illuminating all that was around him. The only thing that was not white were his eyes, which were a deep blue, like the deepest depths of the Neversea.

The pixie stumbled to his feet. The dust clung to his clothes. "I can't believe this. Years of tooth collecting without incident, and now this," he moaned while brushing himself down. The more he brushed, the more the dust spread. "I just got these washed yesterday."

"Shiver me timbers. A pixie," Izzy said, covering her mouth her with hands. "Are you okay?"

The pixie as pure as a snowflake grimaced, showing his pair of equally pure teeth. "Not really," he exclaimed as he took back his gold doubloon and stuffed it into his white satchel, which stretched out to fit the coin but shrunk back to its original size. "I'm both banged up and filthy." He pointed accusingly at the kid with the spiky black hair. "No thanks to mister jumpy-sandals here."

"I'm sorry," said Jake. Already, he was having a bad day. Everything and everyone was against him, and it was not even breakfast yet. "I didn't mean to. I had no idea you were there, honest."

The fairy's anger faded a little bit. "Did my ears deceive me or did I just hear an apology from a pirate? What is the world coming to these days?" He went to flutter his wings. The right one twitched unnaturally. He hunched over in agony, sieving through his perfect teeth.

Izzy gasped. "You're hurt!"

He held an open palm out to her. "It's nothing. I'm fine."

"You're not fine." Izzy reached down and gently picked the pixie up in her hands, against his objections. "Here, let me take a look at you."

Izzy carried the fairy out of the bedroom and into the foyer. The others tagged on behind, eager to lend a hand and help the pixie back to his feet. His natural aura served as a helpful nightlight in the darkness.

All the while, the fairy did nothing but complain. "Put me down," he whinged like a fuzzy child. "This is no way a fairy of my calibre should be treated! The indignity! The shame! The humiliation!" Although, he had to admit that this girl had quite the delicate hold. He did not think it was possible for pirates to have such soft hands.

In the darkened hall, Izzy set the fairy down on a crate. She asked the boys to get her some light while she searched for the first aid box. They kept an emergency case filled with dressings, tweezers, scissors, and splints to treat any minor booboos suffered in their day-to-day lives. Jake, Cubby, and Skully returned with separate lanterns and placed them around the general area, filling it with candlelight. Long, dark shadows were cast onto the walls, which combined with the eerie silence, adding a macabre tone.

Izzy set the box with a crudely painted green cross down beside the fairy and opened it up, showing the contents inside. "Thanks, guys. Now, let's take a look at you," she said, turning back to the miniature man. The extra light brought out the warmth and richness in her eyes. "Where does it hurt? Is it your wing?"

The white fairy's crummy manner crumbled at the sight of the medical supplies, especially the bandage scissors. Squeamish was the word. What was small to humans was less so for his kind. A thimble could double as a helmet. A matchbox would work as a wardrobe. In this case, those scissors were like garden shears.

He swallowed a lump down his throat and said, "I'm telling you, I don't need any help. You don't have to go through all this trouble for—" Izzy had barely brushed the disrupted wing, yet still the pain was sharp and excruciating. The pixie cried out, the rest of his words became lost in a haze of red.

"Oh, it looks like you've sprained your wing pretty bad there. You're lucky, it could've been a lot worse." Izzy turned to the parrot. "Skully, go to the medicine cabinet and get me Misty's tonic."

Skully replied, "I'm on it," then flew off, vanishing into the shadows.

Izzy pulled out two splints and a roll of unused bandage from the box. "Okay, Mister… I don't think I caught your name."

The fairy grumbled, then sighed. "If you must know my name, it's Iris."

"Alright, Iris – such a nice name – we need to stabilise that wing. I'll try to be as quick and careful as possible, but this might be a little uncomfortable."

The white pixie, now known as Iris, dropped his head in defeat. "If you must. It's not like I can stop you anyway."

Izzy took the splints and placed them on both sides of the damaged wing, where it was attached to the back. The contact made Iris flinch. She asked Jake to hold them in place while she wrapped the bandage around it.

"I gotta say, I've seen a few fairies in my time, but I've never seen one like you before," said Jake. He pinched the splints between his indexes and thumbs while Izzy did her stuff. "What kind of fairy are you?"

Iris looked at Jake in a way that suggested that he had been deeply insulted. "Wasn't it obvious when you saw me clinging to that tooth?" He stopped to recoil with more pain. "I collect lost teeth; I'm a tooth pixie."

"A tooth pixie?" the pirates reiterated in unison. They were surprised, but not all for the right reasons.

"Cool," Cubby cheered, peering over the brim of the crate.

"Wait a minute, they're real?" Jake blurted out. "Izzy, I thought you made that all up." He stopped himself too late as he noticed Cubby's blank gaze. "Maybe I said too much…"

Izzy shot Jake a glare. "Gee, you think?" she said sarcastically.

"Hold on," Cubby said, facing Izzy. "You made that up? The tooth pixies? The city? Everything?"

Izzy paused half-way through the wrapping. She mumbled for a moment, trying to come up with an explanation, but found that the only one that existed was the truth. "Yes, Cubby, I made it up," she conceited as she continued with the bandaging.

The pieces clicked together in Cubby's mind as he turned back to Jake. "And you were in on this too, weren't you? That's why you were flying above my bed. You both tricked me!"

"We didn't trick you, Cubby," Izzy responded in a tone that was both calming yet stern. "We were just trying to make you feel better about losing your first tooth."

"And besides," Jake added, "we've got a genuine tooth pixie right here in our hideout, so the story was truer than we thought."

Cubby paused. Something just did not add up in his mind. "So, wait, if the tooth pixies really exist," he began to ask, "then why did you make up that story?"

Izzy answered, "Because I didn't know that they existed either."

"So, let me get this straight. Izzy made up that story, thinking tooth pixies didn't exist, but now we know that tooth pixie are real. But Jake tried to swap my tooth for a doubloon, because he also thought these fairies were made up, and yet…" Cubby's mind was going around in circles. He rubbed his eyes. "Oh, coconuts, I'm so confused."

"Tell me about it." Izzy stopped again, remembering something. "Wait a minute. Jake, didn't you take my first tooth when I lost it?"

"I thought Skully did," Jake answered. "Then who took my lost teeth?"

Iris shouted out, "Will you just finish with the bandage already?"

Not a moment too soon, Izzy apologised and tied a knot in the bandage, securing it in place. Iris attempted to move his wing, but the layers of dressing made it difficult. The most he could do was shift it by half a millimetre, which still brought out a slither of pain.

Skully returned with a small bottle clutched in his talons. The bottle was two-thirds full with a syrupy, green liquid. He set it down beside the first-aid box. Izzy thanked him and unscrewed the lid. As she did so, Jake, Cubby, and Skully backed away, for good reason. Wisps of green vapour escaped and filled the air with a stench that was both sickly sweet and sweetly sickening at the same time – a lethal combination.

"So," Skully began, thankful to be out of the foul radius, "who is he?"

Cubby gestured toward the fairy. "His name's Iris. He's a tooth pixie."

"What? So Izzy didn't—?"

Jake interrupted. "We've already been over that."

Izzy battled watering eyes as she took one of the many splints and dabbed on an amount fit for a pixie. "Open wide," Izzy said through pursed lips. The fumes filled her nostrils, causing them to run. Chopping raw onions became tame by comparison. Izzy dared not open her mouth lest she wanted the aroma to pepper her tongue. She brought the reserved amount to Iris's mouth, but he edged back. "Please, Iris. Don't you want to get better?"

Iris looked like he was about to cry. He slammed his blue eyes shut then took the medicine off the splint. The thick substance sloshed in his mouth, through his immaculate teeth, and danced on his tongue. His eyes snapped wide and were riddled with bloodshot veins. The flavour was indescribable. Iris stumbled around the crate top, hopping and shaking and twitching and hacking as he tried to down the concoction. After about ten seconds, he swallowed, yet the taste was not going to go away so easily.

Iris heaved. "Words cannot describe how horrible that was…"

Izzy replaced the lid on the bottle. "Good medicine tastes bitter. Not even a wonderful witch can change that." She waved away the vapours that lingered, clearing the air of the smell. When it had been cleared, the others moved back in. Skully perched himself beside the fairy. "That was her all-natural extra strength pain reliever. It should ease the ache, but I'd say stay off the flying for at least a few weeks, until your wing gets better."

Iris felt so powerless. The medicine must have taken hold quicker that he thought. "A few weeks? You have got to be kidding me. What fairy worth their weight can't fly?"

Izzy placed his hands against her hips and tilted her head. "You know, for a fairy you're pretty grouchy."

"Pardon me, princess," Iris retorted, "but a messed up wing and a tongue that tastes like I've licked a rotten watermelon doesn't exactly fill me with whimsical joy."

Skully took a few steps closer to Iris. "You could at least be a little bit more grateful since we helped you."

The white fairy's grouchiness only got worse. "I don't need some two-bit, scurvy, good-for-nothing bandit telling me how to behave, and I especially don't need your kind doing my job." He poked his pristine index finger into Skully's feathered chest. "Seriously, do I turn up in your raids and tell you how to do your job – how to seize ships and steal treasure and kidnap fair maidens? No. So don't tell me how to do mine."

Skully angrily pressed his beak into Iris's nose. "Who're you calling two-bit, you—?"

Not wanting to see a scuffle break out between his trusty lookout and a tooth pixie he had only just met, Jake brought his hands down between the two of them, walling each other off, separating them.

"Now, now, let's not get carried away here," Jake said to both of them, then turned to Iris. "You've got it all wrong. We're pirates, yes, but we're not those kind of pirates. We're all friendly buccaneers here." Jake stepped back and placed his hand on his chest. "I'm Jake, and these are my mateys: Izzy, Cubby, and Skully."

Iris shook his head and scoffed. "Friendly pirates? I'll believe that when I see it."

Cubby craftily eyed Iris from over the crate edge. "I think you already have."

Iris retraced the last ten minutes, fresh in his head. Other than the shaky first impression – the incident with his wing – these pint-sized thugs have treated his injury and given him medicine, which was starting to numb the ache. Any other pirate crew would have torn off his wings or coaxed every speck of pixie dust out of his body or – if he were lucky – get tossed out into the water like a banana skin.

One of the lantern flames flicked for a few moments, causing the shade to sway left and right. Almost as if those ghastly shadows were about to come to life, like Peter Pan's, and pull elaborate pranks on them.

Iris reached back into his satchel and pulled out a folded piece of white paper, pixie sized. "You're wasting my time. I've got a job to do. I came here to collect one tooth from… Cubby?" He traced his finger across the faces and came to a stop of the one with the blue eyes and bandanna. The boy smiled, showing the gap. "Just hand it over."

Jake reached into his pocket and pulled it out. "Here you go," he said as he handed it to Iris. Strangely, the pixie stared at it as if he had never seen a tooth in his life. Jake watched as Iris held it out and examined it from every angle. "Is something wrong?"

"I've collected a few teeth from pirates – horrible, rotten, black and yellow things, stank of fish and brandy. But this pirate tooth. I've never seen one so… well-kept."

Cubby smiled. "We take really good care of our teeth," he said with a sense of pride. "We always brush them, at least twice a day."

"Yeah, well, thanks for the break in the monotony." Iris stuffed the tooth into his bag. Still, it retained its shape. "Now would be a good time for me to get back to Ivory City, but…" He glanced back at his injured wing. "Without both my wings, I can't fly home."

"So how are you going to get home?" Jake asked.

Iris paused, bringing his snow-white hand up to his snow-white chin. "That's a good question. Hold on." Iris reached into his bag and heaved out a book thick with pages. Skully managed to make out the words on the title: _The Ninety-Nine-Hundred Rules on being a Tooth Pixie._ "I got to check the manual for instructions." He opened it up and began to flip through the pages. After several hundred page flicks, he stopped. "Ah, here we are. The missing fairies report. It says right here that upon the discovery that a fairy has gone missing during an assignment – either they become lost, injured, or unable to return to Ivory City for whatever reason – a missing fairy report will be filed after… fourteen days _?_ "

Iris dropped the manual and stamped down on the crate in frustration. His soles made hollow thuds on the timber. Waiting at least a few weeks to be able to resume flying was agonising, but half than that away from his home was even more so.

"Just relax," Jake said, "if you really want to go home, we can get you there."

After letting his anger vent, Iris pulled the book back to his blue eyes. His tense face loosened as he read something else. "However, if the circumstances demand it, a tooth pixie may seek alternative modes of transportation. Only ask for assistance from outsiders if absolutely necessary." Iris silently traced the remaining words down the page and over to the next one. He nodded. "I guess that's that then," Iris said as he stuffed the book back into his satchel. "How about I cut you troublemakers a deal?"

"A deal?" Jake repeated. "What kind of deal?"

"Since I can't fly, and you guys are the ones who got me in this mess, how about this? You get me back home to Ivory City, and I'll see to it you get an exclusive audience with the king. He'll want to show you his personal gratitude for helping our cause."

"An audience with the king of Ivory City?" Cubby said, dumbstruck. "You mean, we get to see the mythical home of the tooth pixies?" His hands shot up above his head. "That sounds like awesome coconuts!"

"It sure does," Izzy added, looking just as excited.

"We'll do it," Jake said without hesitation, "but no reward is necessary. We only want to help."

"Don't let your strange sense of pride sting you too soon, kiddos," Iris countered. "But Ivory City is all the way up in the sky, so unless you got wings under your bandannas, we're going to have a little trouble getting there."

"We have Bucky," Jake replied, "the fastest ship in the Neversea. He can get you home, no problem."

Iris retorted, annoyed, "And just how exactly is a boat gonna—?"

"You'll see. Give us a few minutes to get ready and we'll head straight out."

Jake, Izzy, and Cubby ran off back to their bedroom, leaving the fairy alone with the pirate parrot and the silent shadows. Over the course of the next few minutes, they exchanged very little talk, questions that could be answered with only one word. It was unclear as to whether these two had gotten off on the wrong foot, or just would not get along with each other.

Eventually, they returned, still donning their clothes. Jake slipped his right arm into his blue and gold vest. Izzy hopped into the hall, stuffing her left foot into a red boot. Cubby fixed the knot in his bandanna.

"Is everybody ready?" Skully asked as he took flight.

"You bet, Skully," Jake announced as he held his wooden sabre, carved from the Forever Tree, over his head. "I've got my sword."

"My map." Cubby held the scroll aloft.

"My pixie dust." Izzy motioned to the pale pouch that hung from around her neck.

"Yo ho, crew, let's go to Ivory City!"

Iris once more found himself nestled in Izzy's delicate hands as they rushed to the nearest slide and jumped down it. This one was nowhere near as intense as the Crazy Corkscrew, but it still had its share of twists. They appeared in the dim light of Bucky's Grotto and landed on the ship's surface, still shiny from the thorough scrubbing they gave him yesterday. Bucky shook up with a start, his bell chimed.

"Ahoy, Bucky," said Jake. "Sorry to wake you, but we got an extra special job to do tonight."

Izzy presented the fairy to the bell. With Bucky being a ship, it was impossible to pinpoint where his line of sight stemmed, so the bell became the automatic focus point. "Meet Iris. He's a tooth pixie, and we're going to take him home."

Iris looked at the kids, then around the expanse of the deck. "Okay… first you pirates act all friendly," he said slowly, "and now you're talking to this dingy boat. I'm seriously starting to wonder which mainland nuthouse you lot were plucked from."

The bell on the ship rang fast and sharp as Bucky voiced his disapproval.

"Bucky heard that," Skully said to Iris, "and he didn't think it was very nice of you to call him names."

"I'll call _it_ whatever I want."

A panel on Bucky's cabin wall opened and a squirt of water shot out. The thread of seawater struck Iris, a few drops flecked against Izzy who kept the fairy at arm's length. Iris shielded his face, but could not stop the flow. After seconds of spraying, Iris was soaked to the bone and dripping.

Iris, the drowned rat, whispered, "I hate pirates…"

"You'll dry off," Izzy remarked, cradling him close to her torso.

Jake climbed up to Bucky's wheel and hollered, "Set sail, Bucky!"

Bucky opened full sails while Skully operated the contraption to stop the waterfall. The flow stopped and the pirates sailed out of the candlelit grotto and into the shine of dancing stars. The cool, night air breezed against their skin.

Jake and the Neverland Pirates gathered at the ship's bow and sang:

 _Yo ho, mateys away_

 _They'll be treasure and adventure today_

 _(Let's go!)_

 _Heave ho, here we go_

 _Together as a team_

 _Jake and the Neverland Pirates_

 _And me_

"Who're you singing to?" Iris asked as his blue eyes darted around once more, trying to locate something – or someone – he could not see. Now he was starting to think that maybe these people were more dangerous than the typical, marauding breed of privateers. "You pirates just get stranger and stranger…"


	5. Rotten Tooth

**Chapter 5**

 **Rotten Tooth**

The wind whistled past cold and harsh, yet curved to avoid the fairy, as if brushing against her was a violation of some unwritten rule. Cotton looked at her order for the night. "Let's see," she whispered to herself, "one tooth from…" Her back slouched as she read the name on the white sheet of paper. "Captain James Bartholomew Hook of the Jolly Roger."

The name came accompanied with the long chinned, big nosed portrait of the man who apparently was Captain James Bartholomew Hook. Underneath that, a sketch of the pirate ship that must have been labelled the Jolly Roger. Destination: Neverland.

High up in the sky, among the dark clouds, Cotton felt complete seclusion for the first time in a while. Moments of peace and quiet were few and far between in Ivory City; work, work, work all through the night, and by daybreak the only thing a tooth pixie wants to do is sleep. She was almost out of vacation days; twenty-one does not feel like enough.

Cotton sighed, her arms went limp by her sides. "And in Neverland of all places. Funny, first my brother gets pirates in Neverland and now I get pirates in Neverland." She rolled up the page and stuffed it into her satchel. "Oh well, complaining about it isn't going to help. No rest for the wicked, except when they sleep. I might even meet him there, if we're lucky."

With a thrust, Cotton dashed down, through the cloud she was standing on, and into the open air. The never-ending Neversea greeted her thousands of feet below, endlessly waving like a pattern in a bedsheet. All around in every direction was the same – nothing but water for miles, no land in sight. Cotton pulled a compass from her bag, examined it for a minute, put it back, and then set a course for Neverland. The trip was shorter than expected. Cotton started slow, building up momentum. Tooth pixies were capable of tremendous speeds; nothing but the best to reach all those needy kids with fresh gaps in their gums, and the occasional adult. She shot toward the island, rocketing in a dazzle of dust and sparkles. Any curious, outsider eyes just happening to be gazing outside, or peering into the night sky with their telescopes, would easily mistake her for a shooting star.

It did not take long until the pixie had reached her destination. Neverland stood still and lifeless in the dark, yet was very much alive. Cotton had been there once or twice before, maybe even seen it on a postcard, but never really liked the island that much. Cotton could make out the snow-peaked mountain in the centre, the volcano, the skull-shaped rock, the lagoon on the side, but not the ship called the Jolly Roger.

Cotton scratched her head of white hair and hummed thoughtfully. "If I were a pirate ship, where would I be?" She snapped her fingers. "Of course, in the water! I'll just search around the island and I should find it."

And so, Cotton did just that. Starting from the large lagoon – Mermaid Lagoon, if she remembered correctly – she scoured the corners of the island, moving in a clockwise fashion. She searched high and searched low, but mainly just low. Cotton skimmed across the rock face on the western side. Over the chilly northern regions, and then around the giant skull at the east. Darting around, she looked like any other ordinary pixie. That disguise served her well.

Cotton spotted a ship – unmistakable in shape – still on the water, away from the island. She fluttered high above it, getting a good look. She reached for the paper and looked back and forth between that ship and the one right in front of her. Perfect match. The fairy placed the paper away and rubbed her hands together. "This is where the magic happens," she whispered, then converged on the Jolly Roger.

The deck was deserted, and why would it not be? The planks and ropes groaned and gurgled against the gentle rocking of the sea. This was how Cotton liked her pirates, out of the way. No crude shanties. No foul language. No drunken rambling. No bad breath. No flying daggers. No gunshots. No swinging sabres. Just quiet slumber. The only time a pirate was ever at peace, the only way Cotton could ever, ever approach them.

The bandits who looked after this ship must have cared for it a bunch, Cotton could see her own reflection in the floor. A grate lay in the middle of the deck. Peeking through, the inside was dark and the air was thick and smelled bad. Three pirates snored in three hammocks, two fat and one skinny.

"Now, if I were a captain, where would I sleep?" Cotton whispered. She pulled herself up and slapped her forehead. "Of course, the captain's cabin, duh."

She eyed the lone door at the end of the deck, leading to the compartment at the back of the ship. No captain should ever have to climb to reach their bed, oh no. They were too privileged for that, with their fancy coats and those big hats. Cotton fluttered to the lock under the handle. No need to search for an opening, she had been through this procedure hundreds of times. Reaching into her all-holding bag once more, she pulled out a scroll and unravelled it. On the silky, white paper were two words, written with soft, black writing.

Cotton read the first word: "Shrink." And just like that, she shrunk into the size of a pea, everything including her bag.

The keyhole grew until it was the size of a cavern. The mechanics inside were heavy with rust and stank strongly of oil and bronze. The sparse light at the other end guided her through the pins. Upon exiting the other side, Cotton glanced at the scroll and read the second word beneath the first: "Grow."

Back to her regular size, the job was to be complete. Cotton had heard, or maybe thought, that captain's cabins were supposed to be luxurious, but the one that lay before her was far from it, bare bones at best. A bare desk, bare table, bare shelfs, no riches to speak of. In the end, however, Cotton was not there to judge the interior decoration, she was there to do a job.

Captain James Bartholomew Hook lay in the bed, snug under sheets, a pirate-y teddy bear against his cheek. Cotton instantly recognised him from the order sheet, even with his hat off and that sleep mask on. One hand real, bone and flesh, the other fake, forged from steel. Cotton wondered how Hook could get by with a contraption like that for a hand and not hurt himself on a regular basis. She has poked herself in the eye on several occasions. Hook's sheets looked clean, as clean as a pirate could achieve. His pillow showed all the tell-tale signs of being recently plumped with fresh feathers. After collecting as many teeth as Cotton, any fairy would notice the little things.

The tooth pixie glided down, landing as silent as a snowflake beside Hook's pillow. Finding the client was the first step, and now came the tricky part. It was moments like these, being at this proximity that either made or broke a tooth pixie. She was close enough to hear his nose whistling, she was close enough to smell his aftershave – any noise now would be disastrous.

Cotton gripped the edge of the pillow and pulled it up. She slithered underneath and found the hard lump of the lost tooth. Odd. This tooth looked a little different. Sure, pirates had some awful teeth in their gobs, but this was unlike anything she had seen. Long and pointy, like it belonged more to some ferocious beast than a human being. Cotton shrugged. A tooth is a tooth. She pulled a gold doubloon from her bag, and then she grabbed and pulled the tooth, but it was snagged on something. Cotton realised that there was a piece of string tied around it. She untied it. Upon doing so, she though she heard the faint ring of a bell.

All of a sudden, the pillow was pulled up from over her. A coarse hand grabbed her before she could react.

Captain Hook yanked off his sleep mask and gazed at the fairy with dark, alert eyes. "A-ha," he cackled, delighted, "I knew it! Tooth Pixies are real, and I've got one!"

Cotton struggled in his grasp, unable to escape, feeling her skeleton being crushed in dust. "What in tarnation?" she chocked. Hook slipped off his bed and walked toward the desk, toward a glass lantern. He opened the glass flap with his hook, chucked the white fairy inside, and shut it behind her. "Well, I didn't see this coming…"

"Make yourself comfortable in there, little fairy," Hook said, feeling a smug sense of superiority take over. The glow of the doubloon pulled the captain back to his bed. He picked up the coin and took a bite, testing its authenticity. He chuckled some more. "Gold! Real gold! The stories were true, and you've got more of these back in your kingdom, I wager. You're going to take me to your magical kingdom, and you're going to show me where you keep all of those golden doubloons."

Cotton sat on the lantern floor, crossing her arms and legs. "You should just save yourself the trouble and let me go right now, or you'll be sorry, mister."

"Oh, believe me," Hook retorted, "You've been enough trouble as it is, but trust me when I say that it'll all be worth it, because you're going to make me rich." Hook's expression suddenly switched from proud to stern. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've some lazy bones to rouse, and I must look my best for this tremendous occasion. We will set sail for your kingdom as soon as possible, so be a good little pixie and don't go anywhere."

Captain Hook turned to leave, but suddenly remembered the time when he caught Tinker Bell in that exact same lantern. The blasted fairy knocked it over, smashed the glass, and escaped. Captain Hook turned back, determined to make sure a repeat incident did not happen. He scrounged up a few objects from nearby – a couple of books, a paperweight, a candle stand, and an inkwell – and budged them around the outside of the lantern.

"There," Hook said, "that should extinguish any ideas you had on escaping."

He watched the fairy for a few seconds more. She remained sat there, looking back with those blue eyes, unfazed by it all. How could the Terror of Neverland not even get the pixies to feel afraid? Hook disregarded her and went for the door, swinging it open and slamming it shut behind himself.

A minute, that's all Cotton needed. Now was the time to act. She reached into her bag – thank goodness Hook did not take it – hunted around, and pulled out a circular glass cutter. As stated in rule 4368 of _The Ninety-Nine-Hundred Rules on being a Tooth Pixie_ guidebook: a tooth pixie should never go anywhere without one. It was there, written between rule 4367: umbrellas are optional, but recommended – colours limited to white, blue, and/or orange; and rule 4369: true tooth pixie-ing means never having to say you're sorry.

Cotton pressed the suction cup against the glass as he heard the captain's footsteps drum against the wood, followed by yelling. With the cup in place, Cotton pushed the sharp end into the glass's surface and began to slice it around. The diamond tip cut through, leaving a thin, white trail in its wake. The drumming of not one, but four pairs of steps shuffled down below before moving upward. Cotton needed to hurry. She finished a full revolution, leaving a circle wide enough for her to escape through.

"Now," Cotton affirmed to herself, "to dislodge it with a soft tap…" She closed her hand into a fist and tapped it against the glass.

 _Crash!_

The entire pane shattered into a thousand pieces, leaving the circular piece intact, stuck to the suction cup.

"Okay," Cotton said, "that tap was too soft…"

"What in blazes?" Hook's distinct tone rumbled from behind the door. The entrance burst open. The cranky captain and his three cronies ran in to find the glass containing the pixie gone. "Quickly," Hook ordered, "nab that fairy!"

Sharky and Bones charged at the white pixie. Cotton dropped the glass cutter and zoomed out as they leapt at her, missing and crashing into the desk, sending it onto its back. The objects on top fell to the floor, cracking and breaking.

"Clumsy oafs…" muttered Hook as he shut the door behind himself, leaving the pixie trapped inside with the four swashbucklers. He retrieved his net hook and clicked it into place on his left wrist. "Mr Smee, seize her."

Mr Smee reached up with his flabby arms. "Come here, little pixie," he said as if he were summoning a cat. "Come to good ol' Mr Smee."

Cotton watched as the first mate approached prudently. She zipped down, straight into his face. In one swift motion, she grabbed his glasses and yanked them off his nose. Smee's vision went hazy.

"Oh dear, my glasses!" He charged forward, toward the giggling white dot in front. "I can't see without my glasses." Blindly, he ran forward and ended up tumbling into Sharky and Bones, knocking them all down once more.

Cotton laughed. Silly pirates. However, that mood did not last long as Captain Hook came at her, swinging the net wildly. Cotton flew over a swipe and flew across the cabin. Hook gave chase, refusing to stop. His nightcap fell off his head. He jumped onto his bed, ruffling his sheets. He knocked some of his hooks off the shelf.

"Get back here, you infernal insect," Hook yelled, swinging the net like crazy.

Cotton tossed down Smee's glasses and they landed on Hook's large nose. Now it was his turn to experience a world of haze. Cotton flew to the side. Hook kept going straight, swinging at empty air, and slammed straight into a wall. As straight as a domino piece, he tumbled down, his nose flat on his face.

The tooth pixie flew back to the door. She reached into her bag, pulled out the size changing scroll and spoke the first word, shrinking herself down. Zooming back through the keyhole, Cotton heard the scurrying behind her. She reached outside and turned back to normal size. It was a straight shot out, any direction would do. She fluttered up and away as the door burst open.

Captain Hook barged out onto the deck, the wood cold and rough against the soles of his feet. In his free hand was his fishing rod hook, nabbed straight off the shelf, no time to attach it. He caught sight of the white aura flying across the water. He reeled the rod back and then let it rip, sending the fishing hook soaring toward the bright target.

Suddenly, something snagged on Cotton's shoulder, bringing her to a stop. Turning back, there was a fishing hook latched onto her satchel, attached to a fishing rod being held by Captain Hook.

"Help me reel it in, boys," Hook said. Smee, Sharky, and Bones huddled around and aided in coiling in the fishing hook.

Cotton pulled with all her might, but the four pirates were bigger and stronger than her. She could ditch the bag, but only if rule 290 of the guidebook did not exist – which it did. Inch by inch, she was dragged closer to the pirate ship, and to the horrid fate that awaited her in the mind of that diabolical captain.

She was close now. At the last moment, she managed to unhook her bag and make a break for it, across the deck and out over the waters. Captain Hook lunged forward and leaned from the edge of the railing. He swung the net and caught the pixie.

"Gotcha," Hook exclaimed through gritted teeth as his crew took hold of his legs, stopping him from plunging into the freezing sea. With heavy breaths and the sweat on their backs, they pulled their captain back onto dry flooring.

Hook tied a knot at the top, securing the pixie inside. Cotton struggled inside the net. All her pulling and pushing only made everything more tangled. _The scroll!_ She went to reach for her satchel when, suddenly, Captain Hook reached through the fibres and yanked it away, rendering Cotton powerless.

"No," Cotton cried, "my bag! Commander Lilly's gonna kill me."

"You're not going anywhere this time," Hook said, dangling the satchel out of reach. He held the pixie out for the rest to see. "Behold, gentlemen, a tooth pixie."

The crew caught their breaths. They stared in awe at the pixie with skin, hair, and clothes as white as fresh snow. Never before had they seen such a sight. They thought the Tooth Pixies as merely a myth, and now they had been proven wrong.

"Why, hello there, madam," Mr Smee said pleasantly, forgetting the incident that happened only a minute ago. "Welcome aboard the Jolly Roger. Our Cap'n, you are already familiar with. I'm his first mate, Mr Smee, and these are Sharky and Bones."

Bones looked overjoyed. "I've always wanted to meets me a tooth pixie. I so do love that tale, me do."

Sharky tipped his hat. "Pleasure to make ye acquaintance, Miss… who might you be?"

"Cotton…" she answered.

Bones' joy continued to rise. "And she's got a cuddly name too. That be so…"

"Yes, yes, how fascinating, but that's not important. What's important is that this fairy," Hook hissed, "is going to tell us where her home is, and make me the richest pirate in the world."

"You're wasting your bad breath," Cotton said defiantly. "I'll never tell."

Captain Hook drew a devious grin across his thin lips. "We shall see about that. I have ways of making you talk." He carried Cotton over to the railing and dangled her over the side. "Tell me where your kingdom is or you'll be swimming with the mermaids."

To the best of Hook's knowledge, this threat worked on every pixie. The tooth pixie, however, nary batted an eye. She looked back at the cranky captain and yawned, completely unafraid. Hook grumbled, his smile faded, as he pulled Cotton back over the deck. No point wasting time and effort on things that would not yield results. He wanted the tooth pixie kingdom location now, his patience was at an end.

"What is a fairy without its wings?" Hook reached through and pinched one of her wings between his thumb and index. "If you cherish them so much, you'll talk."

Again, Cotton stood there, unfazed by any of it. Even with the coarse fingers on her wing, she showed no fear.

Captain Hook let go and wracked his brain for different solutions. "How do you like the sound of eating sand and drinking sea water? I'll leave you out in the hot sun all day and night! I'll strand you on a desert island and watch as you shrivel like a prune! Then we'll see just how fearless you are then."

Nothing. Cotton inspected her nails. "Is this going to take long?" she retorted. "I've got a hair appointment in a couple of hours."

Hook's featured flushed red. He stomped on the wooden floor, letting out all his frustration on the Jolly Roger, his pride and joy. The rest of the crew watched from nearby. This sort of behaviour was typical of their captain.

"Methinks you better try something different, sir?" Bones said. "I'm just saying…"

Hook kept his glare focused on the rebellious pixie. He was as red as a lobster, but she was still as white as a ghost. She needed to have some kind of weak point, something that struck fear deep into her heart, maybe something universal for her particular brand of pixies. Well, she was a tooth pixie. She collected teeth…

It struck as sudden as lightning. Captain James Hook knew exactly what to do.

"How would you like," Hook asked slowly, "a nice cup of tea?"

"Tea?" Cotton echoed, raising an eyebrow. She could not help but wonder where this unexpected pleasantness stemmed from. "It's a little unexpected, but, sure, why not?"

Captain Hook smiled warmly, his anger subsided. "Splendid! Sharky, Bones," he said, "bring a table and stool onto the deck." As instructed, the two made haste down into the bowels of the ship and came back with Sharky carrying a table and Bones with the stool. They set them down beside their superior, who immediately took a seat, detached the net from his wrist, and set Cotton down at the other end of the table. "Smee, fetch me the tea supplies. All of it."

"Right away, Cap'n." Smee went away and returned with a tea tray, stacked with everything a good cuppa required.

Hook retained his smile on Cotton as the tray clanked beside them. After attaching his default hook, he reached over with his real hand and grabbed the empty cup, setting it down between them. Next was the kettle; draped with a cosy, full of water boiled with some of his mother's tea leaves. He filled the cup to the brim with steaming liquid.

Hook took a small pitcher off the tray. "Milk?" he asked.

"Oh, yes please," Cotton answered. Something bad was on the horizon, she could feel it.

The captain of the Jolly Roger poured in some milk and stirred it up, giving it that burned toffee colour. He grabbed a bowl full with yellow slices. "Would you like some lemon with that as well?"

"I'm actually quite partial to lemon," Cotton said. "Sure."

Hook took a half slice and squeeze it over the cup, squirting some juice into the hot drink, followed by more stirring. Another pitcher landed before them. "Honey?"

Milk good. Lemon good. Honey… not so good. "No thanks," the white fairy answered.

"What's the matter?" Hook asked, the pitcher full of honey still in hand. "You don't like honey?"

"Actually, honey is forbidden back home."

Hook appeared shocked. "Why ever would they do such a thing as that?"

"Well, it's because—"

The pitcher tilted over the cup and a strand of liquid gold oozed out. "You have no idea what you're missing." He stirred the tea more, mixing the honey in with the milk, lemon and hot leaves.

Cotton started to sweat. The big cup before her started out wonderful, but slowly began to take the shape of a terrifying monster, not literally, but figuratively speaking. There was something in it that chilled her kind to the bone, which brought terrible nightmares and sparked the darkest fears.

Hook set the honey pitcher back down. "Oh, how could I almost forget?" He clutched something else, another bowl. "What is a lovely cup of tea without…?" He set the bowl down beside the cup.

Cotton saw the bowl and instantly wanted to cry. "No! No!" she screamed. "Not the sugar! Not the sugar! Anything but the sugar!"

Sugar: a tooth pixies worst nightmare. The bowl was full of it, a granulated mountain of sweetness piled up high.

Hook took the spoon and dug into the mountain of sugar, getting a generous spoonful. "Would you like…" He poured it into the cup. "One teaspoon?"

Cotton gripped handfuls of her hair. "No! Think of the cavities!"

Hook could barely contain his excitement. "Two teaspoons?" Another scoop was shovelled in.

"That poor enamel won't stand a chance! All that tooth decay! All that plaque! Bacteria! Germs!"

"Not sweet enough for you? How about a third?"

"All those calories! You're going to get so fat and have horrible teeth, you fiend!"

The sugar would not stop. A fourth spoonful. A fifth spoonful. A sixth. Seventh, eighth and ninth. Hook chuckled away with every scoop, watching something so simple drive the fairy to the brink of a mental breakdown. His own crew watched from the side-lines, less horrified and more puzzled by the spectacle. They could not for the life of them figure out what was wrong with Cotton, why she was freaking out over granulated sugar? When James Hook was done, islands of sugar span on the tea's surface.

Captain Hook edged the cup closer and closer to the mortified tooth pixie. "Time to drink up, my annoying pest for a guest," he said.

Cotton thrashed against the strings of the net, fighting to escape. "I don't want it, I don't want it!"

Hook's grin expanded further, showing his teeth. "Methinks I want you to stay. I'll give you all the sugar you could ever want."

"I'll tell you everything," sobbed Cotton, tears forming. "I'll take you home! I'll show you where Ivory City is! I'll show you where the doubloons come from!"

Hook stopped and gently placed the cup down on the table. "Which way then?"

Shaking, Cotton raised her hand and pointed to the left, across the Neversea. "Start by going that way... when we get far enough, I'll let you know…"

"You better." Captain Hook lifted himself off of the stool. "You heard her, boys," he bellowed. "Hoist the anchor and set sail, we're going to Ivory City!"

Mr Smee, Sharky and Bones shifted into gear, opening the sails and pulling the anchor up from the bottom of the sea. The Jolly Roger spurned to life, an early riser ol' Roger was. The ship veered to the left and sliced through the waves.

Captain Hook's heart raced with anticipation. Yesterday, he was but an empty-handed pirate captain with only a ship and a sparse crew to his name. By sunrise, he will hold wealth greater than anything ever imagined.


End file.
